Summary
Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We will be pausing our live reporting overnight and returning in the morning.
In the meantime, you can read our comprehensive summary of the day’s events below.
- Russia has declared victory in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, a day after Ukrainian forces withdrew from their last remaining stronghold in the province. On Monday, Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, told Putin that “the operation” in Luhansk was complete. The Russian president said the military units “that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory” in Luhansk “should rest, increase their combat capabilities”.
- Ukraine has laid out a $750bn (£620bn) ‘recovery plan’ for its postwar future. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the eventual restoration of his country is the common task of the entire democratic world at the first international conference to map out a physical future for Ukraine in the event it survives as a western-facing nation after the Russian invasion.
- Ukrainian forces are set to raise the country’s flag on Snake Island, a strategic and symbolic outpost in the Black Sea that Russian troops retreated from last week after months of heavy bombardment. Ukraine’s military earlier stated that the national flag had been returned to the island shortly before 11pm on Monday. However, Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern military command, later confirmed in an interview with CNN: “The flag was delivered to the island by helicopter. It will wait for the arrival of the troops, then it will wave.”
- A British citizen who has been sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine has launched an appeal against the verdict. Aiden Aslin, 28, a British-Ukrainian former care worker from Nottinghamshire who was a Ukrainian marine, was captured by Russian forces in the besieged city of Mariupol in April.
- UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said alternative routes to retrieve grain stuck in Ukraine would need to be looked at, including through Europe’s Danube River, if it cannot be moved via the Bosphorus strait in Turkey. “The Turks are absolutely indispensable to solving this. They’re doing their very best… We will increasingly have to look at alternative means of moving that grain from Ukraine if we cannot use the sea route, if you can’t use the Bosphorus,” he told parliament on Monday.
- Turkey has halted a Russian-flagged cargo ship off its Black Sea coast and is investigating a Ukrainian claim that it was carrying stolen grain, a senior Turkish official said on Monday.
- Ukraine is holding talks with Turkey and the United Nations to secure guarantees for grain exports from Ukrainian ports, Zelenskiy said. “Talks are in fact going on now with Turkey and the UN [and] our representatives who are responsible for the security of the grain that leaves our ports,” Ukraine’s president told a news conference alongside the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson.
- Ukraine has renewed its invitation for Pope Francis to visit the country and urged the pontiff to continue praying for the Ukrainian people, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
- Western envoys in China have criticised Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, with the US ambassador saying China should not spread Russian “propaganda”, during an unusual public forum in a country that has declined to condemn Moscow’s attack.
- Russian forces hit a secondary school in the Kharkiv district at 4am on Monday, according to a report from Oleh Synyehubov, governor of the region.
- The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has claimed that in the last 24 hours Ukrainian forces have shelled 15 of the 240 settlements they say they control. They claim that “five people were killed and another 20 civilians were injured”.
- Britain is proposing a new law that will require social media companies to proactively tackle disinformation posted by foreign states such as Russia. The law would tackle fake accounts on platforms such as Meta’s Facebook and Twitter that were set up on behalf of foreign states to influence elections or court proceedings, the government said in an announcement on Monday.
Satellite images reportedly show Russia regularly exporting Ukrainian grain to Turkey via Crimea.
An investigation by journalists from Radio Free Europe found Russian and Syrian vessels transporting Ukrainian grain from the newly-occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts via Sevastopol to Turkish ports.
The outlet says the images bolster accusations that Russia is transporting huge quantities of stolen Ukrainian grain to Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.
RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service said it documented a series of shipments through the largest grain terminal in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Britain is proposing a new law that will require social media companies to proactively tackle disinformation posted by foreign states such as Russia.
The law would tackle fake accounts on platforms such as Meta’s Facebook and Twitter that were set up on behalf of foreign states to influence elections or court proceedings, the government said in an announcement on Monday.
The law is likely to be passed during this parliamentary session through an amendment to link the National Security Bill and Online Safety Bill, both of which are in the government’s current programme, Reuters reports.
Communications regulator Ofcom will draw up codes of practice to help social media companies comply with the law, and will have the power to issue fines for infringement.
The digital secretary, Nadine Dorries, said on Monday the invasion of Ukraine has shown how Russia uses social media to spread lies about its actions.
We cannot allow foreign states or their puppets to use the internet to conduct hostile online warfare unimpeded.
That’s why we are strengthening our new internet safety protections to make sure social media firms identify and root out state-backed disinformation.”
Updated
The Ukrainian flag has been delivered by helicopter to Snake Island in the Black Sea after Russian forces withdrew from the strategic outpost last week, and it will be raised as soon as Ukrainian troops arrive, Ukraine’s military said on Monday.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern military command, had initially said the flag had been raised on the craggy outcropping in the Black Sea, Reuters reported.
“The flag has been delivered to the island by helicopter,” Ukrainian media quoted Humeniuk as telling CNN television. “It will await the arrival of troops and will then be hoisted.”
Humeniuk said her original remarks to reporters should be viewed “metaphorically”. No troops had landed on the island and “no one is taking any risks for the sake of a media photo”. Some analysts have said Russia’s withdrawal from Snake Island off Ukraine’s south-western coast could loosen its blockade on Ukrainian ports.
But a Kyiv-based foreign diplomat told Reuters it was still not enough to allow for safe transit of Ukrainian grain.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Samantha Lock will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
Ukraine is holding talks with Turkey and the United Nations to secure guarantees for grain exports from Ukrainian ports, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.
“Talks are in fact going on now with Turkey and the UN [and] our representatives who are responsible for the security of the grain that leaves our ports,” Ukraine’s president told a news conference alongside the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson.
“This is a very important thing that someone guarantees the security of ships for this or that country – apart from Russia, which we do not trust. We therefore need security for those ships which will come here to load foodstuffs.”
Zelenskiy said Ukraine was working “directly” with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on the issue and that the organisation was “playing a leading role, not as a moderator”.
News reports have suggested in recent weeks that such talks would soon be taking place in Turkey, Reuters reported.
Updated
Wimbledon and the LTA are to appeal against hefty fines imposed on them by the Women’s Tennis Association for their decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players this year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club, confirmed on Monday that Wimbledon has begun appeal proceedings against its fine, of $750,000, while the LTA, which also banned Russian and Belarusian players from Nottingham, Birmingham and Eastbourne in the build up to the Championships, is understood to be appealing against its $250,000 fine.
“We have appealed. It is the subject of a legal process,” Bolton told a briefing at Wimbledon on Monday. “We [Wimbledon and the LTA] are separate organisations, so we have been fined separately and we are addressing it separately.”
Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the girl in the famous 1972 Vietnam napalm attack photo, on Monday escorted 240 refugees from the war in Ukraine on a flight from Warsaw to Canada.
The Associated Press photo of Phuc, in which she runs with her napalm-scalded body exposed, was etched on the private NGO plane that flew the refugees on Monday to the city of Regina, the capital of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
Phuc, 59, a Canadian citizen, said she wanted her story and work for refugees to be a message of peace. With her husband, Bui Huy Toan, she travelled from Toronto on the humanitarian flight.
The 236 refugees, mostly women and children from across Ukraine, are among thousands of Ukrainians for whom Canada has provided humanitarian visas in the wake of Russia’s invasion of their country.
Updated
Summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 9pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s news stories:
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The eventual restoration of Ukraine through a $750bn (£620bn) recovery plan is the common task of the entire democratic world, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Monday at the first detailed event to map out a physical future for the country in the event it survives as a western-facing nation after the Russian invasion.
- Ukrainian forces have raised the country’s flag on Snake Island, a strategic and symbolic outpost in the Black Sea that Russian troops retreated from last week after months of heavy bombardment.
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A British citizen who has been sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine has launched an appeal against the verdict.
- Vladimir Putin has declared victory in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk and told Russian troops to rest and “increase their combat capabilities”, a day after Ukrainian forces withdrew from their last remaining stronghold in the province.
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Boris Johnson said on Monday that alternative routes to retrieve grain stuck in Ukraine would need to be looked at, including through Europe’s Danube River, if it cannot be moved via the Bosphorus strait in Turkey.
- Turkey has halted a Russian-flagged cargo ship off its Black Sea coast and is investigating a Ukrainian claim that it was carrying stolen grain, a senior Turkish official said on Monday.
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Ukraine has renewed its invitation for Pope Francis to visit the country and urged the pontiff to continue praying for the Ukrainian people, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
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Western envoys in China have criticised Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, with the US ambassador saying China should not spread Russian “propaganda”, during an unusual public forum in a country that has declined to condemn Moscow’s attack.
- Russian forces hit a secondary school in the Kharkiv district at 4am on Monday morning, according to a report from Oleh Synyehubov, governor of the region.
- The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has claimed that in the last 24 hours Ukrainian forces have shelled 15 of the 240 settlements they say they control. They claim that “five people were killed and another 20 civilians were injured”.
- At least three people were killed and dozens of residential buildings damaged in the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border on Sunday, the region’s governor said. Vyacheslav Gladkov said at least 11 apartment buildings and 39 private residential houses were damaged, including five houses destroyed.
Updated
A British citizen who has been sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine has launched an appeal against the verdict.
Aiden Aslin, 28, a British-Ukrainian former care worker from Nottinghamshire who was a Ukrainian marine, was captured by Russian forces in the besieged city of Mariupol in April.
Aslin was captured alongside fellow Brit Shaun Pinner, 48, who was also sentenced to death for “mercenary activities” and “terrorism” by a court that is not internationally recognised.
The eventual restoration of Ukraine through a $750bn (£620bn) recovery plan is the common task of the entire democratic world, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Monday at the first detailed event to map out a physical future for the country in the event it survives as a western-facing nation after the Russian invasion.
Speaking by video link to a high-level conference in Lugano, Switzerland, attended by many senior Ukrainian politicians, Zelenskiy admitted the task ahead was colossal, claiming the war was a battle of outlooks in which Russia was determined to destroy his country’s physical and moral fabric.
He added the process of recovery being led by a Ukrainian national recovery council would allow his country to deepen its links with Europe.
In case you missed it earlier, Vladimir Putin has declared victory in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk and told Russian troops to rest and “increase their combat capabilities”, a day after Ukrainian forces withdrew from their last remaining stronghold in the province.
Ukraine’s military command confirmed on Sunday evening that its troops had been forced to pull back from the city of Lysychansk in Luhansk, and the regional governor has warned that Russian forces are trying to seize the entire Donetsk region, which, together with Luhansk, makes up the industrial heartland of Donbas.
On Monday, Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, told Putin that “the operation” in Luhansk was complete. The Russian president said the military units “that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory” in Luhansk “should rest, increase their combat capabilities”.
Boris Johnson said on Monday that alternative routes to retrieve grain stuck in Ukraine would need to be looked at, including through Europe’s Danube River, if it cannot be moved via the Bosphorus strait in Turkey.
“The Turks are absolutely indispensable to solving this. They’re doing their very best ... It does depend on the Russians agreeing to allow that grain to get out,” the British prime minister told parliament.
“We will increasingly have to look at alternative means of moving that grain from Ukraine if we cannot use the sea route, if you can’t use the Bosphorus.”
Turkey said it had halted a Russian-flagged cargo ship off its Black Sea coast and was investigating a Ukrainian claim that it was carrying stolen grain.
Updated
Ukraine must “prevail” against Russia’s invasion, the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, told the House of Commons today.
Updating MPs on his attendance at several international summits, the prime minister said:
Our immediate priority is to join with our allies to ensure that Ukraine prevails in her brave struggle against Putin’s aggression.
Johnson said the Madrid Nato summit “exceeded all expectations in the unity and single-minded resolve of the alliance to support Ukraine for as long as it takes”.
All of us understand that if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine he will find new targets for his revanchist attacks and we are not defending some abstract ideal but the first principle of a peaceful world, which is that large and powerful countries cannot be allowed to dismember their neighbours and if this was ever permitted, then no nation anywhere would be safe.
He said that Ukraine “must have the strength to finish this war on the terms that President Zelenskiy has described”.
Updated
Britain said it would on Tuesday introduce new economic, trade and transport sanctions on Belarus over the country’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The package will include import and export bans on goods worth about £60m including on exports of oil refining goods, advanced technology components and luxury goods, and imports of Belarusian iron and steel.
Britain will also ban more Belarusian companies from issuing debt and securities in London, Reuters reported.
Updated
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from Lysychansk, in Luhansk, to protect lives but vowed to restore control in the area thanks to new and improved weaponry.
Ukraine PM: confiscated assets from Russian oligarchs should fund recovery
There is a little more here from Reuters about what Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmygal told the Ukraine Recovery Conference hosted by Switzerland today.
It reports he said Ukraine’s recovery plan had three phases: a first focused on fixing things that matter for people’s daily lives, such as water supply, which is ongoing; a second “fast recovery” component that will be launched as soon as fighting ends, including temporary housing, hospital and school projects; and a third that aims to transform the country over the longer term.
Shmygal also added that the Ukrainian government believed a key source of funding for the recovery plan should be assets confiscated from Russian oligarchs.
Updated
Putin congratulates troops on Luhansk victory, tells them to 'rest and recover their military preparedness'
President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Russian troops on “liberating” the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.
In a televised meeting with defence minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin congratulated Russian forces on their “victories in the Luhansk direction”. Reuters reports he said those who participated in the combat should “absolutely rest and recover their military preparedness”, while other units continue fighting in other areas.
Russia’s capture of the city of Lysychansk on Sunday brought an end to the months-long battle of Luhansk.
Ukraine PM: $100bn of direct damage to infrastructure from Russia’s invasion so far
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal has put a price tag on the recovery of his country at the Ukraine Recovery Conference hosted by Switzerland – $750bn (£620bn).
Reuters reports Shmyhal also told the conference that there had been more than $100bn of direct damage to infrastructure from Russia’s invasion so far.
Updated
Ukrainian forces have raised the country’s flag on Snake Island, a strategic and symbolic outpost in the Black Sea that Russian troops retreated from last week after months of heavy bombardment.
“The military operation has been concluded, and … the territory, Snake Island, has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine,” Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, told reporters.
Ukraine has considered control of the island as a critical step in loosening Moscow’s blockade on its southern ports.
However, it was not clear if Ukrainian troops would seek to re-establish a permanent presence there, as it is dangerously exposed to bombardment.
Briton appeals against death sentence in separatist-held east Ukraine - report
Aiden Aslin, the Briton sentenced to death by a court in the Russian-backed breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine, submitted an appeal on Monday, according to the Russian Interfax agency.
“A cassation appeal against the verdict was filed today,” the lawyer representing him, Pavel Kosovan, told Interfax.
Aslin was sentenced to death last month together with fellow Briton Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun for “mercenary activities” because they had been captured while fighting as foreigners for Ukraine’s army against Russian and Russian-backed forces in Ukraine.
Tass news agency reported on Friday the breakaway region’s supreme court had received appeals from lawyers for Saadoun and Pinner but that Aslin had yet to submit an appeal, Reuters reported.
The Donetsk People’s Republic is only recognised by UN members Russia and Syria as a legitimate authority. UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she condemns the sentence, saying “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.”
Updated
Ukraine has renewed its invitation for Pope Francis to visit the country and urged the pontiff to continue praying for the Ukrainian people, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
“It is time to deepen connections with those who sincerely desire it. We renew the invitation to Pope Francis to visit our country and urge you to continue praying for the Ukrainian people,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said when asked to comment on an interview Francis gave to Reuters.
The pope said in the interview that he hoped he would be able to go to Moscow and Kyiv after a trip to Canada as part of efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Updated
The city of Kremenchuk is looking for blood. Last week, two Russian missiles blew apart a large shopping and entertainment centre where about 1,000 people were spending the afternoon.
The exact number of those killed is still not known, but hundreds of people were close to the explosion and of some of them, not even fragments are left. The number of wounded is known, though. The survivors were left without arms, without legs. And they need blood.
This tragedy has given fresh impetus to blood donation efforts. Blood is needed everywhere in Ukraine – wherever Russian missiles and shells explode, wherever wounded soldiers are brought from the frontlines.
In Lviv, they are waiting for blood at the military hospital, which is located on a street named after the Russian writer Anton Chekhov, as well as in the regional hospital on a street named after the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy.
Updated
Turkey has halted a Russian-flagged cargo ship off its Black Sea coast and is investigating a Ukrainian claim that it was carrying stolen grain, a senior Turkish official said on Monday.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey said on Sunday the Zhibek Zholy was detained by Turkish customs authorities. Ukraine had previously asked Ankara to detain it, according to an official and documents viewed by Reuters.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of stealing grain from the territories that Russian forces have seized since their invasion began in late February. The Kremlin has previously denied that Russia has stolen any Ukrainian grain.
“Upon request, the ship named Zhibek Zholy was halted off Karasu,” a senior official said. “The allegations are being investigated thoroughly. It is not written on the grain who it belongs to.”
He said Turkey was in contact with Russia, the United Nations and third parties regarding the issue.
Ukrainian flag raised on Snake Island as it returns to Kyiv's jurisdiction
The Ukrainian flag has been raised again on Snake Island in the Black Sea, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said on Monday, after Russian troops withdrew from the strategic outpost last week.
“The territory [Snake Island] has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine,” Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, told a news conference.
Updated
Western envoys in China have criticised Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, with the US ambassador saying China should not spread Russian “propaganda”, during an unusual public forum in a country that has declined to condemn Moscow’s attack.
Speaking at the World Peace Forum, organised by Tsinghua University, US ambassador Nicholas Burns called the Russian war against Ukraine “the greatest threat to global world order”, Reuters reported.
Burns said he hoped China’s foreign ministry spokespeople would stop repeating “Russian propaganda” blaming Nato for the war.
“I hope foreign ministry spokespersons would also stop telling lies about American bioweapons labs, which do not exist in Ukraine,” he said.
Burns was flanked by the British and French ambassadors to his left and a Chinese government adviser and the Russian ambassador to his right.
Updated
Today so far …
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Leaders from dozens of countries, international organisations and the private sector are gathering in Switzerland today to hash out a “Marshall plan” to rebuild war-ravaged Ukraine. The Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who will take part virtually, earlier warned that the work ahead in the areas that have been liberated alone was “really colossal”. “And we will have to free over 2,000 villages and towns in the east and south of Ukraine,” he said.
- Ukrainian forces have retreated from Lysychansk as Russia claims it is now in control of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Moscow’s forces had established “full control” over Lysychansk and several nearby settlements. Ukraine’s military command confirmed on Sunday evening that its troops had been forced to pull back from the city, saying there would otherwise be “fatal consequences”. Lysychansk was the last Ukrainian-controlled city in the Luhansk region.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, vowed to regain Lysychansk with the help of long-range western weapons. “We will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons. Ukraine does not give anything up,” he said in an evening address.
- Russia will shift the main focus of its war in Ukraine to trying to seize all of the Donetsk region after capturing neighbouring Luhansk, the Luhansk region’s governor Serhai Haidai has said. He claimed about 8,000 civilians remain in occupied Sievierodonetsk and about 10,000 in newly occupied Lysychansk.
- Russian forces hit a secondary school in the Kharkiv district at 4am on Monday morning, according to a report from Oleh Synyehubov, governor of the region. There were no reported casualties. He also said three people were killed and six injured in an attack on the village of Bezruky in his region.
- The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has claimed that in the last 24 hours Ukrainian forces have shelled 15 of the 240 settlements they say they control. They claim that “five people were killed and another 20 civilians were injured”.
- The eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region was hit by powerful shelling from multiple rocket launchers on Sunday, killing six people and injuring 20 others, the city’s mayor Vadim Lyakh said. In the post-2014 regional capital of Kramatorsk, a missile destroyed a hotel, according to its mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko. He said three rockets hit the town on Sunday and that there were no reported victims so far.
- At least three people were killed and dozens of residential buildings damaged in the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border on Sunday, the region’s governor said. Vyacheslav Gladkov said at least 11 apartment buildings and 39 private residential houses were damaged, including five houses destroyed.
- Russian president Vladimir Putin will not congratulate his US counterpart Joe Biden on Monday’s US independence day celebrations because of Washington’s “unfriendly” actions towards Moscow, the Kremlin has said.
- The Russian cosmonauts who were lauded at the outset of the war on Ukraine in February for appearing to show their support for their invaded neighbours with yellow and blue spacesuits, have been pictured on the International Space Station (ISS) holding the flags of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, alongside a message celebrating what Russian space agancy Roscosmos termed the “liberation” of Luhansk.
- Europe faces a rising risk of recession because of rising oil and gas prices amid concerns that Russia could turn off supplies completely, economists have said. Europe’s economy will be hit by a variety of factors including falling demand in the US – its biggest export market – the continued fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and related increases in food and energy prices, according to Nomura, a Japanese investment bank with significant operations in London.
- Australia will send more than $100m in new aid to Ukraine including military equipment, as well as levelling sanctions on 16 new Russian officials, after prime minister Anthony Albanese’s secret trip to Kyiv. Albanese visited Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, three towns in the Kyiv region where evidence of mass killings and torture was uncovered after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
- Britain will host a 2023 recovery conference to help Ukraine rebuild from the damage caused by Russia’s invasion. The Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2022) will begin on Monday in Lugano, Switzerland, to discuss how to rebuild Ukraine, bringing together a Ukrainian delegation with representatives of other countries, international organisations and civil society, the UK Foreign Office said.
- The UK may follow the example of Canada and seize the assets of Russians in Britain in order to give them to Ukraine. The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, told MPs she was supportive of the idea that the government could seize frozen Russian assets in the UK and redistribute them to victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back with you later. Tom Ambrose will be with you for the next few hours.
Updated
Russian president Vladimir Putin will not congratulate his US counterpart Joe Biden on Monday’s US independence day celebrations because of Washington’s “unfriendly” actions towards Moscow, the Kremlin has said.
“Congratulations this year can hardly be considered appropriate,” Reuters reports Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the media on his regular daily conference call. “The United States’ unfriendly policies are the reason.”
Updated
The Russian cosmonauts who were lauded at the outset of the war on Ukraine in February for appearing to show their support for their invaded neighbours with yellow and blue spacesuits have been pictured on the International Space Station (ISS) holding the flags of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, alongside a message celebrating what Russian space agancy Roscosmos termed the “liberation” of Luhansk.
In a message posted to the official Roscosmos Telegram channel, Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov are shown holding each of the flags of the two occupied territories, which are only recognised as legitimate authorities by Russia and Syria among UN member states.
The message accompanying the pictures says “Liberation Day of the Luhansk People’s Republic! We celebrate both on Earth and in space.”
Roscosmos goes on in the statement to say:
Roscosmos and our cosmonauts, who are working today at the International Space Station, join the congratulations of the head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, on the ‘new Day of the Great Victory.’
This is a long-awaited day that residents of the occupied areas of the Luhansk region have been waiting for eight years. We are confident that 3 July 2022 will forever go down in the history of the Republic. Citizens of the allied Donetsk People’s Republic, wait!
The three men were the first Russian crew to join the ISS since Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February, and when they emerged from their Soyuz capsule in yellow uniforms it was widely seen as a message of solidarity. However, the cosmonauts had been coy about interpretations of their yellow uniforms as tacit support for Ukraine. Asked about the suit at the time, Artemyev said every crew chose their own.
“It became our turn to pick a colour. But, in fact, we had accumulated a lot of yellow material so we needed to use it,” he said. “So that’s why we had to wear yellow.”
It is unclear how the flags of the two self-declared republics came to be on board the ISS. Also on board the station at the moment working with the three Russian cosmonauts are Nasa’s American astronauts Jessica Watkins, Robert Hines and Kjell N. Lindgren, as well as the European Space Agency’s Italian Samantha Cristoforetti.
The Luhansk People’s Republic now claims to control almost all of Ukraine’s eastern oblast of Luhansk, which borders Russia, after Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Lysychansk on Sunday.
Here are some of the latest images that have been sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine.
Updated
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has claimed on Telegram that in the last 24 hours Ukrainian forces have shelled 15 of the 240 settlements they say they control. They claim that “five people were killed and another 20 civilians were injured.”
The claims have not been independently verified. Russia and Syria are the only UN member states that recognise the Donetsk People’s Republic as a legitimate authority.
Updated
Russia will shift the main focus of its war in Ukraine to trying to seize all of the Donetsk region after capturing neighbouring Luhansk, the Luhansk region’s governor has told Reuters.
Serhiy Gaidai said in an interview that he expected the city of Sloviansk and the town of Bakhmut in particular to come under attack as Russia tries to take full control of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
About 8,000 civilians remain in occupied Sievierodonetsk and about 10,000 in newly occupied Lysychansk, according to Serhai Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk.
In a status update to Telegram, Haidai said: “We maintain the defence of a small part of Luhansk region so that our military has time to build defences.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Ukrainian media reports an ammunition depot was destroyed in occupied Snizhne in the eastern Donetsk region. Nexta TV has this unverified footage of what it claims to be the incident.
An ammunition depot was destroyed in occupied #Snizhne, #Donetsk region. pic.twitter.com/dpkqg9ZDNa
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 4, 2022
Russian forces hit a secondary school in the Kharkiv district at 4am this morning, according to a report from Oleh Synyehubov, governor of the region. There were no reported casualties.
Synyehubov also said in his latest status update that “the enemy attacked the cities and villages of the Kharkiv, Izium and Bohodukhiv districts during the day. As a result of the shelling, residential buildings, farm buildings, garages and other structures were destroyed.”
He also said three people were killed and six injured in an attack on the village of Bezruky.
The claims have not been independently verified.
- This is Martin Belam in London taking over the live blog from Samantha Lock. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
Europe at risk of recession amid concerns Russia could cut gas supplies
Europe faces a rising risk of recession because of rising oil and gas prices amid concerns that Russia could turn off supplies completely, economists have said.
Europe’s economy will be hit by a variety of factors including falling demand in the US – its biggest export market – the continued fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and related increases in food and energy prices, according to Nomura, a Japanese investment bank with significant operations in London.
Nomura said it expected the European economy to start contracting over the course of the second half of 2022 and for the recession to continue until the summer of 2023, with a total decline of 1.7% of GDP.
Europe is struggling with “conditions that are very much global in nature (surging energy prices and inflation, rising geopolitical risks and uncertainty), which leads us to believe that European economies will suffer the same fate – recession – as the US”, wrote George Buckley, a Nomura economist.
Updated
The UK may seize the assets of Russians in the UK in order to give them to Ukraine, a concept previously supported by Canada.
The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is set to tell a recovery conference in Lugano, Switzerland, on Monday that the UK will “do everything possible to ensure Ukraine wins the war and recovers”.
She will also announce plans to host next year’s recovery conference as the government commits to a Marshall Plan-style programme, echoing the scheme used to rebuild Europe after the second world war.
“The UK will do everything possible to ensure Ukraine wins the war and recovers. We need to be in this for the long haul,” she is expected to add.
Military support for Ukraine is not enough. We must make sure we work together to help @ZelenskyyUa rebuild his country.
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) July 1, 2022
Discussed with OECD Secretary-General @MathiasCormann how the UK and OECD can best support Ukraine’s reconstruction and strengthen its economic security. pic.twitter.com/xZKaa25S0G
Truss told MPs last week she was supportive of the idea that the government could seize frozen Russian assets in the UK and redistribute them to victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
She said: “I am supportive of the concept. We are looking at it very closely. The Canadians have in fact just passed legislation This is an issue that we are working on jointly with the Home Office and the Treasury, but I certainly agree with the concept. We just need to get the specifics of it right.”
She said the initiative would “most probably” need legislation but not necessarily.
The funds seized could be supplied either to individuals in a form of reparations or to the Ukrainian state. At present the UK can suspend Russian assets under the Economic Crime Act for 56 days and roll over the suspension for a further 56 days. In that period the owner of the asset cannot benefit from the asset in any way.
Updated
The president of Belarus and Vladimir Putin’s closest ally says his ex-Soviet state stands fully behind Russia in its military drive in Ukraine as part of its longstanding commitment to a “union state” with Moscow.
Addressing a ceremony marking the anniversary of the second world war liberation of Minsk by Soviet troops, Alexander Lukashenko said he had thrown his weight behind Putin’s campaign against Ukraine “from the very first day” in late February.
Today, we are being criticised for being the only country in the world to support Russia in its fight against Nazism. We support and will continue to support Russia.
And those who criticise us, do they not know that we have such a close union with the Russian Federation?…That we have practically a unified army. But you knew all this. We will remain together with fraternal Russia.”
Lukashenko has allowed Russian troops to use his country’s territory in invading Ukraine. Some Ukrainian officials suggest Belarus could soon become directly involved in the conflict.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the Belarusian leader’s statement amounted to a “signal”, with his actions to be watched carefully.
Zelenskiy, quoted by Ukrainian media, told reporters in Kyiv that Lukashenko’s comments were a “dangerous” development.
Lukashenko’s statement about a unified army with Russia is, above all, dangerous for the Belarusian people.
He must not drag Belarus into a Russian war of invasion against Ukraine. I believe this is a dangerous signal. And I believe that we will all see the results of this signal.”
Updated
With harvest under way, Russia’s invasion continues to have a devastating impact on Ukraine’s agricultural sector, the UK Ministry of Defence added in its latest report.
The war has caused major disruption to the supply chains of seed and fertiliser which Ukrainian farmers rely on.
Russia’s blockade of Odesa continues to severely constrain Ukraine’s grain exports. Because of this, Ukraine’s agricultural exports in 2022 are unlikely to be more than 35% of the 2021 total.
Following its retreat from the Black Sea outpost of Snake Island, Russia misleadingly claimed that ‘the ball is now in Ukraine’s court’ in relation to improving grain exports.
In reality, it is Russia’s disruption of Ukraine’s agricultural sector which continues to exacerbate the global food crisis.”
Updated
Russia’s focus will switch to capturing Donetsk, UK MoD says
Russia’s focus will now “almost certainly” switch to capturing the eastern region of Donetsk after claiming victory over the city of Lysychansk, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Lysychansk, a frontline city in the Luhansk region, likely falling back to prepared defensive positions, the latest British intelligence report reads.
Fighting in and around the city - the last remaining major population centre in Luhansk under Ukrainian control - has intensified over the past week with Russian forces making steady progress, the ministry adds.
Russia’s focus will now almost certainly switch to capturing Donetsk Oblast, a large portion of which remain under the control of Ukrainian forces.
The fight for the Donbas has been grinding and attritional and this is highly unlikely to change in the coming weeks.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 4 July 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 4, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/rihoxEds3Z
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/qH7DudnPCh
Leaders gather to work out ‘Marshall Plan’ to rebuild Ukraine
Leaders from dozens of countries, international organisations and the private sector are set to gather in Switzerland today to hash out a ‘Marshall Plan’ to rebuild war-ravaged Ukraine.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, who will take part virtually, earlier warned that the work ahead in the areas that have been liberated alone was “really colossal”.
“And we will have to free over 2,000 villages and towns in the east and south of Ukraine,” he said.
It is estimated that more than 120,000 homes in Ukraine have been destroyed during the Russian invasion, creating the need for billions in income to restore the country economically and make it a Europe-faced economy.
Lingering concerns about widespread corruption in Ukraine mean far-reaching reforms remain in focus and will be a condition for any recovery plan.
Lugano is not a pledging conference, but will instead attempt to lay out the principles and priorities for a rebuilding process aimed to begin even as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to rage, according to AFP.
In practice, the scale of the reconstruction will depend on the outcome and length of the war, and whether eastern Ukraine – where there has been the worst devastation – is returned to Kyiv or remains in Russian hands.
The cost of the war is estimated at $1tn if it lasts until the end of the year. The International Monetary Fund has estimated Ukraine’s balance of payments gap until June to be roughly €14.3bn ($15bn).
One of the goals of the conference will be to sketch out a vision of a Ukrainian economy that dovetails with Europe, providing specialisms in agriculture, renewable energy and technology sectors.
One of the most sensitive issues will be a programme of de-oligarchisation and how to entrench powerful anti-corruption institutions at a time when large flows of money from the US and Europe are likely.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Switzerland, Artem Rybchenko, said ahead of the conference that it would help create “the roadmap” to his country’s recovery.
In all, around 1,000 people are scheduled to participate in the conference, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, several government chiefs and numerous ministers, according to AFP.
Rebuilding Ukraine is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) has estimated the damage done so far to buildings and infrastructure at nearly $104bn.
It estimated that at least 45m square metres of housing, 256 enterprises, 656 medical institutions, and 1,177 educational institutions had been damaged, destroyed or seized, while Ukraine’s economy had already suffered losses of up to $600bn.
Updated
Ukrainian troops withdraw from Lysychansk
Russia has said it is in control of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region after taking over Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian-controlled city in the region.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, told Vladimir Putin on Sunday that their forces had established “full control” over Lysychansk and several nearby settlements, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Ukraine’s military command confirmed on Sunday evening that its troops had been forced to pull back from the city, saying there would otherwise be “fatal consequences”.
It said: “In order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw.”
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, acknowledged the loss of the city, vowing to retake the area due to the army’s tactics and the prospect of new, improved weaponry.
“If the commanders of our army withdraw people from certain points at the front, where the enemy has the greatest advantage in fire power, and this also applies to Lysychansk, it means only one thing,” Zelenskiy said in his evening video address. “That we will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons.”
A Russian takeover of Lysychansk means Moscow has in effect won control of the entire Luhansk region as well as more than half of the Donetsk region, amounting to about 75% of the two eastern regions, which are collectively known as Donbas.
Summary and welcome
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you as we unpack all the latest news from Ukraine this morning.
Leaders from dozens of countries, international organisations and the private sector are set to gather in Switzerland today to hash out a ‘Marshall Plan’ to rebuild war-ravaged Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia has said it is in control of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region after taking over Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian-controlled city in the region.
Here are all the latest lines as of 7.30am in Kyiv.
- Ukrainian forces have retreated from Lysychansk as Russia claims it is now in control of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said Moscow’s forces had established “full control” over Lysychansk and several nearby settlements. Ukraine’s military command confirmed on Sunday evening that its troops had been forced to pull back from the city, saying there would otherwise be “fatal consequences”. Lysychansk was the last Ukrainian-controlled city in the Luhansk region.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, vowed to regain Lysychansk with the help of long-range western weapons. “We will return thanks to our tactics, thanks to the increase in the supply of modern weapons. Ukraine does not give anything up,” he said in an evening address.
- The eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region was hit by powerful shelling from multiple rocket launchers on Sunday, killing six people and injuring 20 others, the city’s mayor Vadim Lyakh said. In the post-2014 regional capital of Kramatorsk, a missile destroyed a hotel, according to its mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko. He said three rockets hit the town on Sunday and that there were no reported victims so far.
- At least three people were killed and dozens of residential buildings damaged in the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border on Sunday, the region’s governor said. Vyacheslav Gladkov said at least 11 apartment buildings and 39 private residential houses were damaged, including five houses destroyed.
- Australia will send more than $100m in new aid to Ukraine including military equipment, as well as levelling sanctions on 16 new Russian officials, following prime minister Anthony Albanese’s secret trip to Kyiv. Albanese visited Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, three towns in the Kyiv region where evidence of mass killings and torture was uncovered after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
- Britain will host a 2023 recovery conference to help Ukraine rebuild from the damage caused by Russia’s invasion. The Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2022) will begin on Monday in Lugano, Switzerland, to discuss how to rebuild Ukraine, bringing together a Ukrainian delegation with representatives of other countries, international organisations and civil society, the UK foreign office said.
- The UK may follow the example of Canada and seize the assets of Russians in Britain in order to give them to Ukraine. Foreign secretary, Liz Truss, told MPs she was supportive of the idea that the government could seize frozen Russian assets in the UK and redistribute them to victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
- A new New York Times investigation has revealed that Nazism references spiked to record-high levels the day Russia invaded Ukraine. The outlet surveyed eight million articles about Ukraine collected from over 8,000 Russian websites since 2014, and found that since 2014, references to Nazism were “relatively flat for eight years and then spiked to unprecedented levels on February 24” of this year.
- The president of Belarus and Vladimir Putin’s closest ally has said his ex-Soviet state stands fully behind Russia, adding that the country’s “have practically a unified army”. Alexander Lukashenko said he had thrown his weight behind Putin’s campaign against Ukraine “from the very first day” in late February. “We are being criticised for being the only country in the world to support Russia in its fight against Nazism,” a video on the state BelTA news agency showed Lukashenko telling a gathering. “We will remain together with fraternal Russia.”
- Turkish customs authorities have detained a Russian cargo ship carrying grain allegedly stolen from Ukraine, the Ukrainian ambassador to the country has said. “We have full co-operation. The ship is currently standing at the entrance to the port, it has been detained by the customs authorities of Turkey,” ambassador Vasyl Bodnar said on Ukrainian national television.
